FEATURE
Reasons to Use Fixed Wing Drones Image Courtesy
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fixed wing drone can perform different tasks than quadcopters. Unlike quadcopters, a fixed wing drone can carry a beacon, a spraying device, or a carrying compartment. This type of drone can be used for mapping, surveying, and military applications. Another reason to use a fixed wing drone is for the ability to carry cargo. Because fixed wing drones use forward momentum to fly, they can carry a heavier load. Because of this, batteries used to power quadcopter drones must be larger. But this can mean increased flight time.
Efficiency A fixed-wing drone uses a single propeller for lift. A single-forward thrusting propeller is used to generate lift. A fixed-wing drone is more efficient than
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January-February issue l 2022
multirotor aircraft, making it ideal for long flights. “Considering the commercial application of UAVs, fixed-wing drones are effective to take vast-distance flights for a long time and at a high altitude. However, high performance is typical not for all of them, but for smaller UAVs only. If maximum take-off weight of a fixed-wing drone is more than 30kg, a pilot might face some problems because their UAV requires a catapult or hand-launch to take flight. This imposes tough restrictions upon the drone use without equipped airstrip,” Says Andrey Grudev, Deputy Director of Strategic Projects in Geoscan. Compared to a conventional quadcopter, a fixed-wing aircraft can fly for hours on end. It is more efficient when you need to cover wide areas or long range, this is according to Gianni Baggio of UP - Caeli Via s.r.l. “Regardless the wingspan and payload capacity, a fixed wing aircraft will be always more efficient
than a multi-rotor,” states Steve Wong, Marketing manager for ZOHD & Sonicmodell. “Fixed-wing UAV is considerably more efficient for long-endurance missions,” adds Aliaksei Stratsilatau, CEO at UAVOS. This makes it the most popular type of commercial grade aerial vehicle. Aside from being more efficient, fixed-wing aerial vehicles are easier to transport.
Benefits In contrast to quadcopters, fixed-wing drones have longer flight times. They can be used for longer-range surveys. Their longer flight times enable them to cover large areas in one trip. “Long range deployment, all weather operation, payload capacity, higher top and cruise speeds/altitude, less noise are among the benefits of a fixed-wing drone,” adds Wong. The battery life is the most important feature of a fixedwing aerial vehicle. Compared to a normal drone,
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